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Published: October 22nd 2005
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Our last day in the wild Mongolian Steppes has started. The usual breakfast of bread and jam follows a slow awakening. For the tenth time on this journey, I swear to myself that never again shall I touch a drop of vodka. I am looking forward to being in China again, where I will have to deal with the Mao-Tai on a daily basis and can leave vodka behind. I wonder what they drunk before the Russians arrived and imported vodka and their drunken habits. They probably got drunk on Airag. After breakfast, our things were quickly packed away and loaded in the car. We all sat down with a strong sense of anticipation: shall we run for the bus or does the hammer trick really work ???
We start the engine once, it dies, we start the engine a second time, it dies, we start the engine a third time, it roars into life. Sleepy doesn’t waste anytime staying still while the engine runs and takes off at great speed towards the long and straight highways. We quickly rejoin the road and fall, one by one, as much as possible on those potholed roads, asleep. One of us stays
on watch most times to check that Sleepy does not join in the sleeping with us and veer of course. The road back to Ulan-Bataar is uneventful, we sing along to the same tapes as before, we tell each other wild Chinese tales of monkeys and dragons, of warriors and peasants.
We stop at the Sleepy's father's Ger for lunch. As we arrive, he is tendering the leather of some animal he killed recently. We all go into the Ger, we are shown photos of his proud past in the soviet army, at which we can only go Ohhhh and Ahhhh. We also see pictures of Sleepy in his wrestler uniform and we teach him a new word as a result: sexy baby!!!!
The father is extremely proud of his super modern Ger as he has recently installed a TV. This is placed at full volume during lunch, just to make sure we notice it. He also shows us proudly all of the channels he has: I counted at least 3.
5 hours later, at 17:15, we approach the center of Ulan-Bataar. We have only broken down once but this was quickly repaired with the help of
some glue and a plastic bag. As we get on to the main street of the city, we break down again. We have a leak of water and the engine explodes. After a quick repair with the help of some strings and a few bottles of water, we get moving again. 20 meters later, we explode again. More glue and water are needed. Sleepy goes off and finds all that is required. He comes back, does his thing and we make it at least 50 meters this time. We could take a taxi but this is proving to be rather entertaining, so we stick with Sleepy. A full hour later, Sleepy arrives back at the UB guesthouse, where we started 4 days ago. He is nearly pushing the car. I think it will go no further and we have been its last passengers. We unload our bags and make our sorry goodbyes to Sleepy. He has proven to be an extraordinary driver, with no sense of navigation but he always remained happy and cheerful, he was always extremely kind and we had a good number of great laughs together. The Mongolians are extraordinary people: I have rarely seen such welcoming
and curious people, the language barrier was not a problem, on the contrary it allowed us to communicate more fully with the helps of mimes and sounds. This allowed us to break the ice and make everyone smile and roll about in laughter. The people are generous and kind, you can always stop at any Ger and you will find food, drinks and lodgings. We were truly sorry to leave Sleepy; I left him my walkman with all the tapes, as well as my Mongolian phrasebook, they will be most useful to him. I will always have the memory of him, listening to the Beatles in the middle of the steppe and dancing along to Michelle, ma belle…
Snaily stays at the UB guesthouse to try to arrange a reindeer-riding trip to the north, while we go and get scrubbed up and changed at our own guesthouse. We give laundry and then, feeling clean and refreshed, we head to the only good French restaurant in town, so that we can eat food that has never even seen mutton; we drink good wine and promise to travel to Tibet together. After dinner, we head to what appeared to be the
coolest jazz club in town, Martinis jazz club. It turns out that it is rather disappointing, so we have a drink, head to the other jazz club in town (Genghis Jazz Club) where they serve Genghis beer, brewed by the Germans in Mongolia. Very good beer it is too. We meet up with another French friend of mine, whose name I forget, and head to the River Dance Studio, the only place with live music in town. We meet there the American, the German and the English ambassadors, dancing away with nubile young Mongolians (or at least we reckon they are the ambassadors). A girl approaches me and tells me that she met me on the plane on the way to Ulan-Bataar; but of course you did, dear, shame I came by train, hey? She tries a few more things such as she is studying English and wants to speak to me, etc… Having been in Asian countries before and knowing the deal, I flatly refuse and send her way. Frenchy is too gallant to send her away and finds himself engulfed by ladies, each with a more tempting offer and promises of never dying love. Bene and I calmly
finish our beers and then head to the rescue, where we pull him out by force and take him back to the guesthouse.
I am leaving tomorrow morning for China and am excited about being back in China again, but I feel sorry to be leaving Mongolia: it is a place of incredible beauty and kindness. I have met some incredible people here, Stinky and Sleepy most of all, and regret leaving them behind. There is still so much to be done here, so much to be discovered…
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Muriel
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Great Read!!!
My son was in Mongolia from January to April, hence I love reading about the country. Being there in winter resulted in a different experiences from yours, however he did get to ride a Mongolian horse, a life-threatening experience! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your experiences. Your writing style kept me glued to the computer. I also laughed out loud a number of times. Thanks for making the effort and putting this online for all to enjoy. I look forward to reading more of your experiences in China.